Opinion Columnists

The more it costs, the less there is

Posted:
10/17/2017 06:07:39 PM MDT

Gary Hodson

"You get what you pay for," used to be a statement of fact. The more something cost, the more you could expect for your money. That's not necessarily the case any more. It seems today, the more it costs, the less of it there is.

I went to the hardware store the other day to pick up a roll of wire. Usually, I would pick up a roll of old-fashioned barb wire and be on my way. Today, however, I needed barbless wire for a fence near my horses. Horses, as you know, can not just stand inside a fenced in area. They must stand IN the fence. I figured I'd save a vet bill and save money on plain old wire without any barbs.

Right?

Wrong.

A roll of wire without barbs cost more than one with barbs. What's the deal? Does the wire factory have to pay some guy to take all the barbs off? I can just see some poor guy, fingers sore and bleeding, sitting on a bench taking the sharp barbs off as the wire passes continually in front of him. Boy, and I thought I had worked at bad jobs before! Have you ever noticed that when they took the lead out of gas, the price went up? I seem to remember years ago when they started adding lead back to gas that he price went up, again. I suppose I'm dating myself here by referring to the days when we actually could afford to buy gas. Decaffeinated coffee is another case where it costs more to buy something with parts removed.

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When buying a good felt cowboy hat, notice, if you will, the thinner and lighter the hat, the more it costs. My wife's clothing, about half the size of mine, always costs more. Pickups cost more today than ever even though the amount of steel in them has diminished.. I suppose the price of plastic has gone up.

If you are starting to get the idea, you can add to the list. When you go to the vet's for a bottle of medicine what costs more? Usually the stuff in the little bitty bottles, not the stuff they sell by the gallon.

Personally I'm still intrigued by the barbless barb wire. I want to know how that little guy gets those barbs off. Does he have to unravel the entire roll of wire and slide 'em off the end or does he use his pliers to take each one off without disturbing the wire. I wonder how he gets paid, by the hour, by the barb or by the mile?

As usual, though, the world-wide advantage of getting more money for less product seems to stop just outside the ranch gate. I took an old cow to the sale last week. She didn't have a calf last year and had one eye missing. Can you believe she didn't bring as much as those cows that had a calf and both eyes? Somebody got a good deal!

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